Quote:
Originally Posted by Raoul23
When you say clip mix buss won't your DA converters on the interface outputs be clipping if the clip indicators are coming up on the mix buss which should be the same, yeah. Sorry if this is dumb :)
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Not dumb at all - this is complicated stuff for sure. As I understand it, on HD you could have 100's of tracks at full code signals with the faders cranked up to + 12 - summing and clipping the mix bus and trim the output down with a Master fader so it won't clip the DA of your converter. from the old TDM whitepaper:
"You can clip the “output” side of the mixer, but that’s what Master Faders are for—they allow you to trim your final output level to avoid clipping the DAC or 24-bit digital output when your mixed signals leave the Pro Tools mix environment. This is analogous to an analog console mix bus, where you trim the master bus with a master fader to avoid clipping the output circuitry in the console."
To be clear - Mick is saying that the bottleneck wasn't the mix bus as much as it was the plug-ins being 24 bit. Some developers made plug-ins that were double precision 48 bit to carry out the math farther - and then dither the output to 24 bit.
All that technical stuff aside - most mixers like Mick who switch to HDX or HD Native think it sounds better as an entire solution. Hence his last comment.
For me personally - I think the newer architecture is more freeing and forgiving by not having to be so technically careful on your gain staging. I remember the days of HD constantly checking for clips on plug-ins and tweaking inputs or outputs in the chain of plugs. It gives me more time to think about creative and mix decisions...